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MBE Advance Access published online on August 19, 2007
Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi:10.1093/molbev/msm170
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Letter

Evolution of Prokaryotic Two-Component System Signalling Pathways: Gene Fusions and Fissions

Peter J.A. Cock1 and David E. Whitworth*,2

1 MOAC Doctoral Training Centre
2 Department of Biological Sciences, University Of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry. CV4 7AL United Kingdom

* To whom correspondence should be addressed: Tel: +44 (0) 2476 574738, Fax: +44 (0) 2476 523701, Email: d.e.whitworth{at}warwick.ac.uk

Received for publication March 25, 2007. Revision received July 26, 2007. Accepted for publication August 14, 2007.

Two-component systems (TCSs) are common signal transduction systems, typically comprising paired histidine protein kinase (HK) and response regulator (RR) proteins. In many examples, it appears RR and HK genes have fused, producing a ‘hybrid kinase’. We have characterised a set of prokaryotic genes encoding RRs, HKs and hybrid kinases, enabling characterisation of gene fusion and fission. Primary factors correlating with fusion rates are the presence of transmembrane helices in HKs, and the presence of DNA-binding domains in RRs, features that both require correct (and separate) spatial location. In the absence of such features there is a relative abundance of fused genes. The order of paired HK and RR genes and the nucleotide distance between encoded domains also correlates with apparent gene fusion rates. We propose that localisation requirements and relative positioning of encoded domains within TCS genes affects the function (and therefore retention) of hybrid kinases resulting from gene fusion.

Key Words: two-component system • gene fusion • gene fission


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